


Sir Percival Makes a Miss-Stake

by tinyrose65



Series: Miss Merlin [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Genderbending, Genderswap, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 03:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4690634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyrose65/pseuds/tinyrose65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or Where Merlin Tries Comforting Her Friend, Leading To Quite A Few Mixed Signals And Overreactions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sir Percival Makes a Miss-Stake

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot is part of my "Miss Merlin" series, but set before The Miss-Adventures of Gwaine (between seasons 3 and 4 of Merlin), so you should be able to read it without any prior knowledge of my other stories.

* * *

" _It didn't help that Merlin's comfort level with the knights had risen to the point where she had grown quite physical with them: squeezing their hands in encouragement, hugging them when they were down, even kissing them on the cheek every now and then._

_(When she had done that to poor Percival for the first time, he had almost broken the fork he had been holding in surprise)."_

_\- The Miss-Adventures of Gwaine._

* * *

It had been a trying day. Arthur and the knights (and Merlin, who definitely did not classify as a knight, but certainly counted for  _something_ in their little group) had been out on a hunting trip. This in and of itself was not a bad thing. In fact, for most of them, this was wonderful. Arthur loved to hunt. He enjoyed getting outside, away from the expectations that royalty bestowed on him (especially now that Arthur had taken over his father's duties as king), and he truly loved spending time with his men. They, likewise, enjoyed it, too.

The only one in their group who did  _not_ enjoy it was Merlin. It was a well known fact that she vehemently opposed hunting. At first, the knights had assumed that it was simply a stereotypical, feminine dislike of all things bloody and gory. Merlin quickly had this theory debunked one day on patrol several months ago, with the skillful way in which she  _skinned_ the creatures they caught that night.

It had been Elyan who brought it up as they had sat around the fire, watching Merlin prepare dinner:

_It was something that he and Leon had, for some reason, found themselves discussing earlier: Merlin's hatred of hunting. Now, though, the creatures they had caught for food didn't seem to bother her that much._

_"You don't seem to be bothered by the blood."_

_Merlin looked at him confusedly, working the knife through the dead bird with surprising dexterity. "Why would I be?"_

_"You just dislike hunting so much..." Sir Leon began, but then paused. Merlin raised her eyebrows._

_"And what? You thought it had to be because I hated dead things?"_

_"Most women-"_

_The look Merlin gave Leon simply dared him to finish that sentence._

_"Blood doesn't bother me," Merlin huffed, annoyed. "How could it? Back in Ealdor, I helped my mother prepare our food all the time- although, to be fair, we mostly had vegetables and porridge. Meat was only for special occasions. But now I'm the physician's apprentice. What good is a physician's apprentice who can't handle blood?"_

_As Merlin had asked that question, she happened to get to a particularly disgusting part of the skinning process, making all the knights grimace. She just shook her head, exasperated, and kept going._

_"Then why don't you like hunting?" Elyan pressed. The others couldn't help but be curious. Even Arthur didn't bother to to hide it. He had long accepted Merlin's dislike of hunting as something that was just Merlin being, well,_ Merlin,  _but he couldn't deny that he did actually want to know._

_"Hunting for food is one thing," Merlin said, matter-of-factly. "It's been the way of the world for centuries now, and far be it for me to change something as natural as that. Hunting for sport is something different. It's- It's a waste of life, and unfair."_

_"Hunting has been a sign of honor in Camelot for many years," Arthur said, through narrow eyes._

_Merlin shrugged as she began to affix the birds to the spit she had prepared earlier. "If you say so. I simply don't see how there can be honor in upsetting the balance of the world."_

_"Aren't you going a bit overboard there, Merlin?" Arthur snorted. "A dead deer here and there is hardly going to 'upset the balance of the world.'"_

_"Every life is precious," Merlin argued. "There's a delicate balance between new life and lost life in nature. Taking the life of an animal to feed yourself and your family is one thing. However, if you take the life of an animal for nothing more than your own vanity, I see it only as a sign of disrespect for the animal whose life you've taken."_

_The silence that met this statement made Merlin uncomfortable. She muttered,"Look- you don't have to agree with me, alright? You all like hunting and that's fine, but it doesn't mean_ **_I_ ** _have to like it. Just don't take me on any more hunting trips, alright?"_

_But of course, Arthur couldn't be that kind and, the very next day after they arrived back in Camelot he had arranged a hunting trip for them all._

Merlin, however, was not as stupid as they sometimes made her out to be. It had taken a bit of creativity on her part, but she had eventually perfected the art of making sure that Arthur and the knights caught absolutely no game. She tripped, sneezed, coughed, interrupted,  _anything_ to distract them. Arthur eventually got so sick of the whole thing that he stopped bringing her on hunting trips all together.

This time, though, had been different. Arthur had  _forced_ her to come, which she was quite unhappy about, and it was this lead to the rather trying day mentioned earlier.

As they rode through the forest, Merlin said to Arthur, "I don't understand why I had to come along this time."

Lancelot, riding next to her, looked at her apologetically, knowing how much she truly hated these trips. Arthur was under no such inclination.

"You've been moping around the castle all week. Some fresh air is just what you need."

It had been true that Merlin had been more down lately. All the knights had noticed it, of course. It was difficult  _not_ to notice it. Merlin was usually a ball of smiles and energy and tripping over her own enthusiasm. When she was anything but, it became painfully obvious. There was an unspoken agreement among the knights that whenever Merlin fell into such an  _unnatural_ state, they would do everything possible to bring her out of it.

"I wasn't moping! I was  _tired!_ I don't know if you noticed, but we have that feast for Samhain soon! Who do you think's been running around the castle making sure that everything- from the food, to the rooms for the visiting nobles, to the entertainment- is all prepared and up to  _your_ ridiculously high standards?" Merlin pointed out indignantly. "And even if I  _was_ moping, what made you think  _hunting,_  of all things, would make me feel any better?"

Arthur was quiet. Finally he said, "You're right. Hunting wouldn't have made you feel any better."

"No," Merlin agreed. "Does that mean we can turn back?"

"You just admitted that you weren't moping," Arthur retorted immediately. "Meaning that this hunting trip is no longer to try and cheer you up. So, no, we won't be turning back."

Merlin grumbled and glared fiercely at the back of Arthur's head. She supposed that it was time to revert to her old stand-by tactics, then. Gwaine, noticing the calculating look on her face, smirked and wondered what exactly she was planning.

As it turned out, what she was planning was one of the absolute  _worst_ hunting trips that Prince Arthur ever had the misfortune of being on.

Merlin not only fell and sneezed and coughed and talked, but she also made sure that their crossbows weren't firing properly and that their javelins broke (thanks to some subtle use of her magic). At one point, she had even made a tree branch fall near Gwaine, startling him so badly that he fell backwards into a stream.

(Merlin felt a bit bad about that, because she had really been aiming for Arthur, even though Gwaine took it all in good stride and just laughed it off.)

Finally, exhausted, frustrated and, in Gwaine's case, wet, the group settled down for the night before they returned home to Camelot. Since they had not caught anything, they were forced to eat from the provisions Merlin had been wise enough to bring. She threw some herbs, vegetables, and cured meat into the broth she had procured from the kitchens earlier, set the pot on the fire, and gently stirred.

Arthur watched her from his position across the fire. "If I didn't know any better, Merlin, I'd say that you scared all our game away on purpose."

Merlin did her best to look innocent. "Why would I do that?"

Sighing, Arthur rolled his eyes. "Forget it." He threw his empty waterskin at her, hitting her in the head.

"Ow!" she complained, giving Arthur a small bit of satisfaction in it.

"Just fetch me a new waterskin, would you?" He asked as pleasantly as he could. "And get the bedrolls ready?"

Merlin grumbled, but did as he asked, taking his old waterskin with her as she went over to where the supplies were kept, by the horses. As Merlin looked over to the fire, where the other knights were waiting for the stew to finish, she couldn't help but notice that Percival seemed a bit, well, down. Now that she thought about it, he  _had_ been rather quiet during the hunt (well, more quiet than usual, since, as Merlin had quickly learned, Percival was a man of few words).

"Something on your mind?"

Merlin jumped when she realized that Lancelot had, at some point, come up beside her. She blushed at being caught off guard and quickly grabbed Arthur a new waterskin. Aiming carefully, she threw it, making sure it hit Arthur's head just as he had done to her earlier.

_"Merlin!"_

"Just be glad I had the cap on, or else you'd be more wet than Gwaine right now, you clotpole!"

Arthur chose to just glare at her some more. Merlin rolled her eyes, unconcerned, and turned back to Lancelot.

"What're you doing here?" She asked.

"I thought I'd give you a hand with the bedrolls," Lancelot offered, kneeling down and picking some up. Merlin grinned thankfully and grabbed the rest. Together, they set about rolling them out, making small talk as they went.

"Ah, Lancelot?" Merlin began after a brief pause in their conversation. Lancelot looked up from where he was straightening the lumps out of Elyan's bedroll.

"Yes, Merlin?"

"Is it just me," she began hesitantly, lowering her voice and shooting Percival anxious looks to make sure he wouldn't overhear, "Or is Percival being unusually quiet today? I mean, he just seems a bit upset about something."

Lancelot sobered as he finished up his last bedroll. "Today is the anniversary of the day his family was killed by Cenred's men."

Merlin's voice died in her throat. "Oh."

She shot Percival another glance. No wonder he had been so upset all day and why he hadn't seemed as eager about the hunt as the others were. Merlin remembered what it was like to lose her father, and Will, and Frey, and she still felt the pain of their deaths as keenly now as she did before. Honestly, she couldn't imagine how Percival was feeling at the moment. Lancelot, feeling his friend's grief, gave Merlin's shoulder a light squeeze and then headed back to sit around the fire.

Merlin sat in silence for another minute, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles in Arthur's bedroll. She probably would've sat there longer, if it wasn't for Leon calling her over.

"Merlin! Stop your woolgathering! Soup's on!"

After getting up and walking back to the others, Merlin sat down, watching as the bowl of soup was passed from person to person, each scooping out generous portions into their bowls. After what she had heard about Percival, though, she honestly didn't feel like eating. When the soup was passed to her, she shook her head and gave it to Leon, who sat next to her.

Lancelot frowned as she stood up and stretched. "Aren't you going to eat anything, Merlin?"

"Not that hungry, actually," Merlin admitted. "I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"If you're sure..." Lancelot said skeptically.

"I'll be fine," Merlin said, waving off his concern. She looked around at the group of knights. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," they all chorused back, before turning their attention once again to their soup. Merlin rolled her eyes (something she tended to do a lot around them, she noticed) at their one track minds, landing them on Percival.

"Goodnight, Percy," she offered. Before she could think about what she was doing, she gave Percival a light kiss on the cheek. Her cheeks burned bright red and Percy let out (an admittedly unmanly) squeak in surprise, squeezing tightly on the fork he was holding. As quickly as she could, Merlin headed back to her bedroll, burying herself in it as deeply as possible, trying to ward off the chill.

She was buried so deeply that she couldn't hear Percival complaining about his now  _bent_  fork or Gwaine's incredibly confused sputters.

Soon, she was asleep.

The knights were up for a while, afterwards, though, and they couldn't help but give Percival a bit of a rough time.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Yes!" Gwaine agreed. "What was  _that?_ "

Percival had no idea. He told them so.

Lancelot tried to speak, explain that Merlin was simply being  _nice,_ as she always was, but Leon interrupted him.

"I don't believe you," Leon laughed.

"Neither do I," Gwaine agreed immediately. "Merlin  _kissed_ you. How could you not know what that as about?"

"I'm sure it was nothing," Percival protested, but now he sounded a bit more unsure.

"Look, all it was-" began Lancelot, but he was overruled once again.

"Seems as though Merlin carries a bit of a torch for you," Elyan joked.

"No, she doesn't!" Gwaine argued. "Merlin  _can't_ fancy Percival!"

"Why not?" Percival asked, looking just a bit considered himself to be a perfectly alright bloke, certainly not bad looking, with no particularly horrible character problems. And he was a knight!

 _"_ She just can't!" Gwaine snapped, nonsensically and a bit too loudly for a concerned friend.

Everybody looked oddly at Gwaine. It was finally Lancelot who asked what was on everybody else's mind. "Why is it any of your business who Merlin fancies?"

Gwaine went quiet at this, looking for all the world as though he had no idea of the answer himself. While he attempted to figure it out, the others went back to their previous topic of discussion.

"I never thought of Merlin as ever  _liking_  anybody," Arthur mused thoughtfully. "In fact, in all the time I've known her, I don't think I've ever even heard her  _talk_ about a man- save for Will, of course, but she made it perfectly clear that they were only friends."

"For a while, I thought Merlin might've felt something towards you, m'lord," Leon offered. Next to him, Gwaine choked on his stew and Lancelot couldn't resist a slight chuckle. Arthur looked completely abashed.

"What on  _Earth_ would give you  _that_ impression?" He demanded.

Leon shrugged. "She was always very loyal to you."

"And from what I hear," Percival added, eager to get join the discussion now that he wasn't the butt of it, "You didn't treat her-" Percival stopped, realizing what he was about to say to the Prince.

"You were rather horrible to her," Gwaine finished, never one to mince words, and always more than happy to remind Arthur what a prat he could be.

Arthur scowled and hastily changed the subject. "Why are we talking about  _me? Percival_ is the one that Merlin  _kissed_!"

"That's a fair point," Elyan agreed. He turned to Sir Percival. "What're you going to do about it?"

Percival shuffled, nervous. "I wasn't going to do anything about it. Should I?"

"Well," Leon said, trying to sound as knowledgeable as he could, "Assuming you don't feel the same way-"

Here, Percival nodded eagerly in agreement and Gwaine let out a small sigh in relief.

"-then you need to tell her so. Let her down gently."

"I do?" Percival said doubtfully. He hesitated, clearly uncomfortable, before adding, "I don't know. Merlin can be pretty bright sometimes. Surely if I just go on acting as I always did, she'll understand that I don't, ah, reciprocate her feelings."

Arthur shook his head. "There's your first mistake. Assuming that Merlin is  _bright._ "

"And besides," Elyan added, "Women don't like being strung along. It would be better if you tell her how you feel now, instead of leaving her to wonder."

At this, Elyan couldn't help but shoot a pointed glare at Arthur, who did his best to look as though he hadn't noticed the look being shot at him from the brother of the love of his life. He quickly agreed with Elyan and said, "And make you sure she understands what you're saying! When it comes to matters of the heart, Merlin can be even slower than usual."

"I'm sure that's not true," Gwaine disagreed. "Everyone is able to tell the difference between the care and concern of a friend and the true feelings of a lover."

"There you are  _assuming_ again about  _Merlin,"_ Arthur said, exasperated. "Mark my words, Gwaine, if anybody was unable to make such a distinction, it'd be Merlin. One day, you will see."

This, of course, lead to another round of heated debate and discussion.

Lancelot had given up trying to explain the situation to the others and instead sat back and watched, a small smile on his face. Regardless of what they all said, the knights truly did care for Merlin, as their interest in her life and arguments over who knew her character better indicated. Of course, they  _all_  knew that if Merlin were awake right now, she'd be furious at them.

Lancelot could almost imagine her standing over them all, fuming and saying, "Just because none of you have personal lives doesn't mean you're allowed to get all up into mine! My business is  _my_ business, not your opportunity to gossip like old maids!"

Of course, Lancelot doubted that Merlin had much of a personal life, but that would hardly stop her from being angry.

And justly so, he added, listening as Percival and Leon debated as to whether Merlin was a flowers or jewelry sort of girl.

If Lancelot had been joining in, he would've said that he personally thought Merlin would appreciate either one, provided that it had been given from the heart. But unlike the others, Lancelot had no desire to risk Merlin's wrath, so he just finished his soup, amazed at it all.

Only  _Merlin_ could get into this much trouble with such a small act of kindness. She was certainly in for a rude awakening tomorrow.

Said rude awakening did not come in the form that Lancelot was expecting, and instead came when Arthur pulled her bed-roll out from underneath her. She flailed and rolled over, hitting the ground unexpectedly.

" _Arthur!"_ she whined, face in the dirt. She pushed herself up unto her knees and spat out the twigs in her mouth. Arthur just threw the bedroll on top of her and told her to be ready to leave soon. Merlin mumbled some new insults under her breath and got to work, packing away all of their supplies while the others readied their horses.

Percival, she noticed, seemed to be having some trouble packing away his own bedroll, so Merlin laughed good naturedly and went over to help him.

"You do it like this-" As she approached him, she reached out and batted his hands away. Despite the fact that he probably could've split her like a twig (the size difference really was a bit ridiculous), he moved his hands out of reflex.

He never left her finish though, because then  _he_ was batting  _her_ hands away (gently, of course, as Percy always did) and said tensely, "I got it."

"Are you sure? It's not a problem. I can do it much faster than you. Look-"

"I said ' _I've got it,'_ " He said even more sharply.

Frowning, she took a step back, watching as he fumbled some more. This time, though, she made no attempt to help him. A bit hurt, she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"If you're sure," Merlin muttered, before turning back to her own supplies. Merlin was never one to remain insulted for too long (her friendship with Arthur never would've survived otherwise) and within a few minutes Merlin decided that Percival was still upset about about the death of his parents, and, although she made a note to stick close to him during the ride back to Camelot to make sure that he was  _completely_  alright, the whole matter was entirely forgotten by her.

Not by Percival, though. He did feel bad about snapping at her earlier, but the discussion he'd had with the knights still weighed heavily on his mind. If Merlin truly did care for him as something more than a friend, he needed to settle the matter  _soon._ Things were so awkward between them now- at least, for him. Merlin didn't seem to be acting any differently than usual.

(But was it Percival's imagination, or was she riding more closely to him than she normally did?)

When they did eventually make it back to Camelot several hours later, Percival made sure to retreat to his quarters as soon as he had a chance,  _away_ from Merlin, so he could have time to think about how he was going to go about it.

And by  _it_ of course, he meant taking his brothers' advice and letting her down gently. After a while of thinking and pacing and more thinking, Percy finally decided that the best way to go about it was to trust his instincts: he felt that in a situation like this, Merlin would appreciate both honesty and privacy.

Honesty was relatively easy. He just couldn't chicken out.

Privacy, on the other hand... Merlin worked almost from sunrise to sunset and never stopped running around. Percival had often been jealous of her energy, especially after particularly brutal training sessions, but right now he wished that she'd do like a  _normal_ servant and hide out in the tavern or something every so often when she was tired.

Interestingly, according to Arthur, of course, Merlin spent an inordinate amount of time in the tavern. None of the knights had ever actually seen her though. They kept their mouths shut, of course. If Merlin wanted to skip work for a bit and go for a walk in the woods or visit some friends in town, they certainly wouldn't stop her.

All that meant was that there was no way for Percival to discretely get Merlin alone.

Unless he went now...

Arthur often gave Merlin the afternoon after their hunting trips off. This wasn't for Merlin's sake, but rather a request from Gaius. Merlin often collected herbs for Gaius whenever she went out with the knights, and she needed time to help the physician to sort them.

There still wasn't a  _lot_ of time, which meant that Percival would have to get it over with now. Quickly. Like swallowing a difficult tonic. He could only hope that he didn't lose Merlin's friendship after this. Merlin's friendship was a very useful thing to have. She might've been only a servant, but Percival would swear that she had more pull in the castle than the king did. It was actually rather impressive what the other staff members were willing to do if Merlin asked, and all because they were just  _fond_ of her.

But cleaner sheets and larger meals were  _not_ an excuse to keep dragging Merlin along (or so Percival managed to convince himself), so it with a heavy heart that he finally managed to drag himself from his quarters to the court physician's.

He meant to knock -Really! He did!- but he couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation between Merlin and Gaius.

"-acting very strangely-" That was Merlin.

Gaius responded with, "-just needs time to come to terms with it, my dear."

"He  _snapped_ at me-"

Oh, they were talking about him. Percival's ears turned a bit red at this. It seemed Merlin  _had_ noticed his odd behavior this morning. He straightened himself up to his full height and knocked firmly.

It was time to end this nonsense right now.

Merlin's eyes snapped up as the door opened to reveal a nervous looking Percival. She frowned, concerned. "Percival! I didn't expect to see you here. Is everything all right?"

"Ah, yes," Percival said. Merlin's concern was making him feel all the more guilty for what he was about to do. But as much as Percival had come to care for Merlin, she reminded too much of his little sister for anything other than a platonic affection. And, anyway, he'd never go after a woman another one of his brothers had come to care for (and no matter what Gwaine said, everybody could see it).

"Do you need something from Gaius?" Merlin asked, wiping her hands. She had been helping her mentor sort some herbs.

Percival shook his head. "No. Actually, I needed to talk to you, Merlin."

"Me?"

"Well, I can see when I'm not needed," Gaius chuckled. He grabbed a small package from the table and headed for the door, ignoring the protests of the other two. "I have some rounds to make, anyway. Merlin, I want those herbs fully sorted when I come back."

"Yes, Gaius," Merlin sighed, before going back to work. When Gaius left, Merlin looked up (and it really was  _quite_ a ways up) at Percival. She saw Percy swallow and grew even more nervous. "So, what's the matter, then?"

"We're  _friends_  aren't we, Merlin?" Percival asked. Merlin nodded, her heart sinking to her stomach.

She had done something. She didn't know what. Had he learned about her magic? But if he had, why didn't he report her to Arthur?

It didn't matter.

All that mattered was that she had done  _something_ and now Percival was here to tell her that he didn't want to be friends with her anymore - _Because she was a servant? Because she had accidentally ripped his cloak a few weeks ago?-_ and she hated that because she  _loved_ her friends and she didn't have enough of them. Not really  _good_ friends anyway. And in the short time she had known them, the knights were like family to her.

"Of course we are," Merlin said immediately. Then Merlin added, "I like being friends with you."

This seemed to make him feel worse. Percival said, "I like being friends with you, too!"

Merlin smiled bitterly and finished, in her head, " _But we can't be friends anymore."_

"And I don't want our relationship to be complicated or anything," Percival stuttered, the tips of his ears turning a bit red. "Especially considering that we both work so closely with the King and the other knights-"

"I understand," Merlin said, deciding to put him out of his misery. She looked back down at the herbs she was sorting, so Percival wouldn't see the look on her face. In fact, Percy seemed surprised.

"You do?" he asked. He hadn't expected her to be so calm about the whole thing.

"I do," Merlin said. She bit her lip and then asked, "But, do you think you could tell me- if you don't mind- what I did?"

"What you did?" Percival repeated, sounded surprised. "You didn't  _do_ anything, Merlin. You're just like a little sister to me."

Merlin frowned. "But, then, why do you want to stop being friends with me?"

" _Stop being friends with you?"_ Percy asked, one again sounding shocked. "Who told you I wanted to that?"

Merlin was about to say that  _he_ had  _sort of_ told her, but then she stopped. If that wasn't what he had meant, then what-?

"Hang on, did you think that I  _liked_ you?" Merlin sputtered.

For a moment, the two of them stood in front of each other, each feeling quite foolish and enjoying ( _not really_ ) the feeling of being foolish together.

"Well," Merlin said finally.

"Well." Percival agreed.

There was another moment of silence. Honestly, it seemed as though this one would never be broken, until-  _there._ A small snort. Followed by another loud giggle by Merlin. Soon, she was laughing harder than she had in a while. Percival gave in and laughed with her. The situation really was too ridiculous.

When Merlin finally calmed down, she said, "Why did you suddenly start thinking that I fancied you all of a sudden?"

"You kissed me on the cheek-"

Merlin sputtered. "I was trying to  _comfort_ you! Lancelot told me that it was the anniversary of your family's death. Didn't he try to tell you that?"

"He did try, I think," Percival admitting after thinking about it. "The other knights were too busy talking over him, though."

"So it was  _their_ idea?" Merlin pushed. Percival shrugged, not liking the mischievous glint in her eyes.

Then Percival asked, "Why did you think I wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

Merlin shrugged at this. "I- I guess I overreacted a bit."

"I suppose I did, too." Percival chuckled.

There was another pause, as though they were both unsure about what to do next. Percival finally admitted that he should probably go check the training schedule and Merlin decided that she better finishing Gaius's sorting before he came back.

As the two went about their daily business, though, they both (unbeknownst to each other) couldn't help but enjoy the satisfaction in knowing that their friendship was secure.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll begin uploading the next installment in the series tomorrow, so keep an eye out :)


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